For those of you who need to be caught up to speed – over the past couple of months, History Channel’s been releasing episodes of the first season of their new survival TV show, Alone. Now I tell you, it was a stroke of sheer luck that we discovered this TV show as soon as we did. We’d just recently launched Survival Threads, our community forum, when a new user took to the forum to discuss History’s Alone. The show sounded great, but being not altogether impressed by the many survival TV shows that were already on air, I slacked off a little before catching up with the first episode I’d missed.
Bad decision – which I soon rectified by becoming altogether obsessed with the show (so much so that I spent a number of hours trying to track down the specific items each of the 10 contestants took with them). You guys, I’m not kidding, if you missed the first season, do yourself a favour and binge-watch this show! History’s even got it up so you can stream it directly from their website!
Now, for those of you who have been following along with us, you’ll probably know that the finale for season 1 airs tomorrow! There’s two contestants left: Alan and Sam, and honestly, I feel like it’s a toss up between these two guys. Not going to lie, been rooting for Alan from the start, but Sam has grown on me to an absurd degree. So when Mitch and Lucas dropped out last episode, it was a shame for sure, but I daresay it makes no difference to me who wins now, as both Alan and Sam are damn great contestants.
Anyhow, I was contacted by a representative of the show and given the insanely cool opportunity to grab an interview with the remaining two contestants (tried to get these interview questions answered by Mitch and Lucas as well but they seem to be MIA!). So I took to the threads again to ask what kinds of things you guys would ask had you gotten a chance. I narrowed the suggestions down to 11 questions, and sent them off to be answered…
Alan Kay – Remaining “Alone” Contestant Interview
1. How long did you think you could last just before you got dropped off VS two weeks in?
I had no idea at either time. There were so many unknown variables. I was just taking it one day at a time.
2. What did you eat while you were out in the wilderness? This isn’t shown much on the show, so we’d love to know!
I had a multifaceted diet. During my stay on the island I ate various species of fish, mussels, limpets, bull kelp, bladder wrack, sea lettuce, crabs, slugs, the inner bark and needles of the western hemlock tree, and ducks.
3. Do you know how to make cordage? Was it possible to do so/did you make any (off-camera?) What did you use it for?
In my area in the southeastern US, I make cordage from yucca and from the inner bark of the tulip poplar. I did not need to make cordage while on the island. As luck would have it, I found a section of mooring line that washed up on shore and that met all of my needs.
4. Did you try to make a hard-wall shelter?
I made a lean-to using a blown-down tree as my base; the tree was six feet tall on its side. The poles that I cut were between six and eight inches in diameter, and I placed these side by side in typical lean-to fashion. Upon those poles, I then layered at least four courses of thatch, shingling them from bottom to top, allowing them to shed water as you would with modern shingles.
5. What kinds of stuff did you find washed up on the beach that proved useful?
In my area, I found lots of rope, bits of netting, glass and plastic bottles in tact with lids. I even found some tubing and a yellow hard hat, which I used to carry gravel from the seashore to line my fire pit..
6. There was so much behind the scenes that was not shown in the episodes of Alone. Anything you wish made it to the final cut?
I would love to have seen some footage of the First Nations People and the beautiful welcoming ceremony they performed for us.
7. Would you change any of the 10 items you selected based on what you experienced?
No. Overall, I was happy with my kit and gear choices. In retrospect, I would have taken boots and a sleeping bag with better insulation.
8. Would you have done anything else differently knowing what you do now?
I would have trapped in the woods more, not just in the intertidal zone. I also wish I had dug clams.
9. What were your most recurring thoughts while out there?
My thoughts were of family and food — not the food I had on the island, but ‘normal’ food that was out of reach, such as peanut butter and German chocolate cake.
10. What thoughts kept you in the game?
From the beginning, I was determined to push myself to my absolute limits. I had made up my mind to keep going until I just could not do it any more.
11. What was your best and worst memory from the experience?
Best: The raw, real experience of living as a man on Earth. I felt connected to all creation and to the Creator. There were times of such absolute peace; words really cannot describe it.
Worst: The cold. The omnipresent, piercing, inescapable cold. I found myself looking at my hands and feeling that they were not really connected to my body. They were numb and foreign to me.
Sam Larson – Remaining “Alone” Contestant Interview
1. How long did you think you could last just before you got dropped off VS two weeks in.
I had no clue. I knew that I wanted to do my best, but I wasn’t sure how long “my best” would be. I guess we will see! I took everything one step at a time and tried to keep a level head. I tried to make even the smallest accomplishments seem huge, just to keep my spirits up. It worked pretty well.
2. What did you eat while you were out in the wilderness? This isn’t shown much on the show, so we’d love to know!
I lived mostly off of crabs. I got sick of crabs after a while and started adding mice for some variety. The mice tasted great after not having red meat for a few weeks.
3. Do you know how to make cordage? Was it possible to do so/did you make any (off-camera?) What did you use it for?
I was going to use spruce root for cordage, but I found a bunch of cordage on the shore. There was more than I could ever use, so it was awesome!
4. Did you try to make a hard-wall shelter?
Nope. My shelter was pretty warm and dry as is. It also stood up to those high winds pretty well. I’ll admit it looked a bit wimpy, but it did well!
5. What kinds of stuff did you find washed up on the beach that proved useful?
I found an awesome retro looking float that I used as a stool.
6. There was so much behind the scenes that was not shown in the episodes of Alone. Anything you wish made it to the final cut?
There are a lot of things that I wish would have made the cut. I went on a multi-day fishing trip where I walked about a mile up river to catch the spawning salmon. I found them, got one, and lived off of it for a few days. I remember being so proud of that salmon, and the effort I made to get it. Lots of other things as well, but the fishing trip was the big thing.
7. Would you change any of the 10 items you selected based on what you experienced?
I would change most of it actually. It would definitely have been nice to have a gill net. Wire would have been a great item as well!
8. Would you have done anything else differently knowing what you do now?
Oh yea! I would have done most things differently. I consider this whole thing a learning experience. I would have definitely made camp in the woods though, instead of the open area. There was about 100 meters of thick brush (nearly impossible to walk through) separating me from the forest, so I was intimidated at the thought of going through it every time I needed to get to the ocean. There was better firewood and better shelter building materials in the forest, which would have been worth it. As you can see in some of the footage from “After the Rescue” I did go to the forest quite a bit for hunting, but I spent a lot of time near the ocean.
9. What were your most recurring thoughts while out there?
Well, I usually drink a pot of coffee per day, so common thoughts were: Dang I could use some coffee… I wish I had coffee… This pine needle tea isn’t as satisfying as coffee… I’m never going another day without coffee…
10. What thoughts kept you in the game?
My goal was to push my personal limits. I wanted to go until I didn’t have anything left to give. The thought of how I would feel once I left the island was a good one too. I pictured how rewarding that first big old steak would be if I knew I had done my very best.
11. What was your best and worst memory from the experience?
Best memory would have to be setting up and catching the mouse traps. It didn’t yield much food, but it was more of a hobby. I was able to improve my techniques over time and test my traps against a very tough animal to capture. Worst experience is the prolonged time away from home. I was never “lonely” but I was usually very homesick.
Conclusion
What do you guys think of their responses? Is there anything else you wish I’d asked?
And what I’d like to know most of all:
Who do you think won?
***UPDATE: The winner of Season 1 of “Alone” was Alan Kay.
if they”d known what to take and do, they’d have done much better. 2 months is nothing, if you know how to feed yourself, but none of them has done anything but starve. Every last one of them has lost 1/2 to 1 full lb per day on the show. That’s ridiculous. they could have taken a PARACORD hammock and PARACORD gillnet, unraveled them, removed the outer sheathing and woven the 7 inner strands into over `100m of 6 ft wide, 3″ mesh netting. That’s enough to catch 100’s of lbs of fish, if you know how. The guts can be used to bait in bears, you can legally arrow 2 bears, if you’ve obtained the needed licenses and permits in advance. If you constantly boil off seawater, you can recover a lb of salt per day and you’ll need many lbs of it to safely preserve 100 or so lbs of fattty bear meat. Take one of Chief Aj’s slingbows, with 4 of your 6 arrows having fishing heads, which are easily converted into 32 fishhooks. take 8 treblehooks, set on small log rafts, for ducks and gulls, with a drowning rock tied about a foot from the hook (roasted cambium as bait). Make a big wooden mortar and pestle and juice about 20 lbs of kelp each day, for about 500 calories and carbs. There’s no carbs in fish or game and in late fall, there’s almost no plants available.
Well, Billy BadAss, maybe we will see you in the next season of Alone, so you can show us some BadAssery!
easier said than done.
It’s all great but I am a little confused. What are the rules about human contact? Van couver Island is not the end of the world, It is populated. Lots of tourists, residents etc. Were the places the contestants were camped a reserve of some sort? How about how far can you travel to hunt/fish? Can you kill and eat a Bear when necessary? Why is everyone so hungry when there is an abundance of food? suppose a person decides to stay and not go home? How long can this go on? Two people can stay maybe a year or longer, will this change the outcome of the program? There has to be some limitations set that we don’t hear or read about.
No, you’re right, Vancouver Island is not vacant or the end of the world, but they specifically choose locations that are basically little islands far enough away from the populated parts of Vancouver Island and from the campers who mostly stick to mainland areas. It’d be possible to meet someone, or for them to travel to civilization, but very very hard to do so considering where they’re located. And while they didn’t say it, I’m sure no human contact is a rule – like if you see someone, don’t engage or get help.
I’m sure you can technically kill a bear and eat it, but there are so many easier ways to get food (and less dangerous) everyone sticks to fishing usually for very good reason. I don’t know why everyone is so hungry. I feel like they don’t get the kick in the pants they need to try absolutely everything until they’re hungry. This can go on forever apparently, but it doesn’t really because eventually people just get bored and give up. I definitely don’t think there are time limitations set. It’d be unlikely that things would ever reach the 1-2 year point, because after about half a year, people get thinking they’re wasting their time and would rather just be home working/being with family/doing something more productive. S’how I see it at least – little point to adding limitations when the human mind is enough limitation.
I only saw the last 2 episodes of season one and i was hooked!!
Awesome Show!!
Now i’ve been watchin Season 2
Thought the woman
Was going to win, but no she tap out tonite:|
I need to finish season 2 still! Thomas spoiled it by learning who the winner was and that derailed us in terms of finishing the season, but I still want to watch even though I know who the winner was. I liked season 2 actually! Can’t wait for the next one.
Almost wish they’d let people take one family/friend who didn’t know anything about survival with them – would be interesting to see a person have to survive for two people, and would take the “I’m lonely” part out of the equation for them leaving. I wonder if it really would make them stay in the wilderness longer. They could call this other version of the show “Alone Together.” ;)
I don’t really care one way or the other as to what parts of the show are real or not real, Or just how alone or not they really are out there, etc….. You can dissect it and/or pick it apart any way you like but fact of the matter is? It’s the best damn show on TV and I watch nothing else! Reality tv sucks but this is one that puts all others to shame!! Although I must say I liked season 1 a lot better than 2 so far!! Great stuff!! Keep up the great work!!
It is a really great TV show, this is not even remotely like the other reality TV shows on TV – in a good way. As I’ve said, I haven’t watched season 2 yet so that makes me sad, but I’ll still be watching it (albeit quite late!) to see what happened there. I hope next season (season 3) is the best yet.
I started watching Season 2. I didn’t catch Season 1. I searched the web and your article from 2015 tops the search results.
My question: Why aren’t they cutting trees down? IE shelter, firewood, create an opening in the bush, etc.
I still haven’t been able to catch up on season 2 yet :(. Really need to get on that but been so busy moving. Anyway ! I think the reason they don’t cut down trees is because it takes up a lot of energy to do so. Though, who knows, maybe next season someone will try it!
Elise, that was a great opportunity to be able to ask questions from Alan and Sam. Thanks for informing us about this show. I’ve only ever heard about it from your site.
The answers they gave were interesting. I agree with the others about the bad situation of all the refuse that washed up, but on the other hand, I was glad to hear they reused some of the items.
Thanks again!!
Good question Kelly. I seem to recall his wife being pregnant on the first episode before he headed out.
Where was Sam at the final taping of the Insight?? I was really disappointed that he wasn’t giving commentary! :(
I hope Allan won…
Ok one Question…
How often did You wash/ change your underwear ?
My Mom would ask me that first thing…
Based on some of the things Sam said, I think Alan won. If asked that question I would hope at least one of them would say something about going commando. My question, since there are so many bears where they are would be. If a bear craps in the woods, does it make a sound?
Great questions. I’d like to see them posed to the other contestants as well.
Agree here. I wish I could’ve at least gotten a hold of Mitch and Lucas’ responses, as those four (with Sam + Alan of course) stayed quite a long time!
One good/bad part of the whole experience, depending on perspective, is that the insane amount of trash generated by the modern world had an impact on the show. Not surprising, but good to know.
Good observation, William.
I was going to make comment on this as well. I read the whole article and realised how “alone” they weren’t as a lot of the stuff they would have potentially had to make themselves like rope, cords, utensils, even furniture was provided by humans being dicks to our planet, but on the same vein showing that ingenuity and re-purposing is just as important a set of skills as fabrication and creation. Why re-invent the wheel if you don’t have to?
I’m going to have to see if we have this available in Australia as it sounds like a great show.
Yeah a version in the Aussie Bush would be insane. FNQ in the spring would br brilliant
Elise Xavier, can we see some of your “Survival” experiences?
Hey Major! We don’t actually do video’s (of any kind) as this has never been a medium that resonated with us. However, I must admit that we do really like the Alone format and perhaps, one day, we will endeavor to do something similar!